Our history
Handicare Stairlifts was formed by the merger of two lift manufacturers:
- Jan Hamer
- Brinkman
In 1886 Jan Hamer founded the lift factory Jan Hamer & Co. in Amsterdam. Mr Mulder took over the factory several years later and expanded it so that it was to become the largest lift manufacturer in the Netherlands. His grandson saw a stairlift for the first time while touring America in 1960. Inspired by the idea, he developed the first European stairlift in 1962.
The company Brinkman was founded in 1889 as a mechanical workshop for the dairy industry. In 1920, because customers often had difficulty vertically lifting their products, Brinkman developed a special lift: the column lift.
Collective strength
In the nineteen-eighties OTIS took over both lift companies and the merger resulted in Liftenfabriek Brinkman Jan Hamer, in Heerhugowaard. The OTIS subsidiary specialised more and more in stairlifts.
A new beginning
The company became independent once again in 1996. At the beginning of 1997 the company, by then engaged solely in the development and production of stairlifts, was renamed: Freelift.
July 1st 2010 Freelift changed its name to Handicare Stairlifts B.V.
